Addison, Grand Del Mar, California

For our last dinner in Del Mar we joined a vendor sponsored event at Addison, one of the top rated restaurants in the San Diego metro area. The dinner was hosted by CrossView, IBM and Sterling Commerce and Addison was on-property at the Grand Del Mar resort. It's located about 500 yards up the hill from the resort, adjacent to the golf pro shop and M Club.

We arrived promptly at 7pm to find a group already in the private dining room with attached outdoor veranda overlooking the 18th green and waterfalls. The bar was open but Alan spied a waiter in the process of decanting an older Cabernet (Pahlmeyer) and expertly navigated into place to be able to sample a glass for him and a glass for me. While we stood around outside chatting with one of our hosts amid the beautiful surroundings and the perfect temperature, I tried many of the h'ors deurves passing by. The ones I remember were a delightful, warm Gruyere pastry with an actual liquid cheese center and little spoons of crab, honey and tarragon that I loved and probably snatched half a dozen of. I'm having trouble recalling others but there were maybe five or six in total.

When called into the dining room, we took up places at a table near one of the fireplaces and close to the veranda glass doors. There were six people to a table and six tables in total. Each table consisted of at least one host (someone from IBM, CrossView or Sterling) and guests of the conference and their significant others. Our table had a most wonderful couple from Plano Texas (Teneka who works at JC Penney & her hilarious husband, Tom), Jason from Portland, Oregon and one other woman. The conversation was fast and funny, covering a wide range of topics. The chatter at the table was so engaging that I didn't pay as much attention to the food as I usually would, but remembered to snap a few pictures and grab one of the menus they had at each place setting.

Our first course was a salad of seasonal greens with shallot confit, glazed beets and Cabernet dressing. I thought the confit's sweetness was a wonderful compliment to the bitters of the greens and liked this rather simple dish a lot. The second course was a fennel risotto with cured lemon and Parmesan cheese. Knockout! I loved this...creamy and still a touch al dente with a fresh taste that's uncommon in usually heavy risotto dishes.

The next dish was the entree with a choice of either the braised beef short rib with smoked potato puree, port wine and prosciutto or the roast Atlantic sablefish with cremini mushrooms, rock shrimp and dashi. I choose the fish while Alan selected the short ribs.

I'll start with my dish...wonderful! Sablefish is a smooth, delicate white fish with a super silky texture that reminds me of the white tuna sushi I love. It was cooked perfectly, flaking easily with a fork. The light sauce it was in had a warmth to it (taste wise, as well as temperature) that added to the experience and it was salted enough to give the fish the support it needed to keep from being too bland. The cremini mushrooms were heavenly and the shrimp flavorful. Alan's short rib didn't quite live up to the expectation. After hearing that this was the signature dish of the chef, we were both hoping for something akin to Cook in St. Helena or Daniel's duo of beef short rib...but it wasn't.
It seemed to be overpowered by the port wine reduction and not as tender as one would hope for.

The dinner wrapped up with chocolate mousse with orange syrup and vanilla ice cream served with teas and coffee. A really nice evening with great company, fun conversation and pretty decent food overall. Not sure this restaurant can hold a candle to it's NYC and San Francisco counterparts, but a lovely experience all the way around.

Jenn's rating: 87
Zagat's rating: 27-28-28